Part 1 The Joker Chapter 56 The Great Sea Escape

　　Inside the rather spacious living room, Anna and Joyce, who had ended their embrace, sat on separate couches, spaced out by their female parents.

　　Joyce exclaimed with a contented look:

　　”Steam on, how lucky I am to have made it back alive to see Anna again.”

　　”My poor Joyce, what has happened to you?” Anna couldn’t hold back her concern any longer and pried.

　　Joyce looked at his fiancée and his expression became heavy:

　　”I still feel scared to this day, always waking up from my dreams again and again. Five days after the Clover left Caesar’s Harbor, we encountered pirates, terrible pirates, and the only good thing about them was that their leader was called Nast.”

　　”The great pirate who called himself ‘King of the Five Seas’?” Anna’s father, Mr. Wayne, asked back in shock.

　　Although Joyce had come over to visit half an hour ago, he had never mentioned his own encounter in detail, acting cowering, apprehensive, and uneasy, and it was only when Anna came back and gave him a hug that he seemed to actually come out of his doom.

　　”Yes, the ‘King of the Five Seas’, Nast, claims to be a descendant of the Solomon Empire, and abides by the virtue of not killing captives, and because of that, we were only looted of our money and did not lose our lives, and his men even left us with enough food. ” Joyce recalled the encounter.

　　His body gradually shuddered a little, but he persisted in describing the deepest, most subdued part of the nightmare:

　　”I lost not too many belongings, and I had thought that the doom was over, but on the voyage that followed, the passengers and crew of the Clover erupted into violent infighting, ranging from arguments, to brawls, to pulling out revolvers, lifting straight swords, and killing each other……. In those few days, the color of blood was all over my vision. One after another, those around me fell, opening eyes that would never close, splattering limbs, hearts, and intestines all over the place.”

　　”We who would not be beasts, the sane part of us, had no place to hide, no road to escape, surrounded by deep blue waves, an ocean that could not be seen …… There were those who cried out in pain, those who begged for mercy, and those who betrayed their bodies, but still, their heads were hanging from the masts. ”

　　”Anna, I was filled with despair and thought I would never see you again, fortunately, in such a nightmare, there are still heroes who appear, Mr. Captain led us to hide in the sturdy lower decks, and with the water and food prepared in advance, we held out to the limit of those crazy guys, and Mr. Terris inspired us, bravely took the lead, and led us to the group of murderers ……”

　　”After a bloody battle I’ll never forget, we survived, but the Clover was also off course, and the sailors were even down to a third of what they originally were.”

　　……

　　When telling the most horrible and darkest side of the human heart, Joyce couldn’t help but think back to the “hero”, the hero who called himself Tris, who had a round, kind face, a shy character, like a girl, and always preferred to stay in a corner, and only those who were very familiar with him could understand what a talkative person he was.

　　But it was such an unassuming boy who stood firmly in front of the crowd in the worst and most desperate of times.

　　”Oh steam on, my poor Joyce, what a heart-wrenching encounter you’ve had, thank God, worship God, k so we don’t have to be separated.” Anna had tears welling up in her eyes and kept nodding the triangular holy emblem of steam and machinery on her chest.

　　Joyce gave a slightly pale smile:

　　”It was a reward for our piety, and the Clover went on to weather storms, go through lost voyages, break through test after test, and finally arrive at the port of Enmart.”

　　”Because there had been such a serious bloodbath on the ship, we survivors were controlled by the police and interrogated separately, with no chance to send a telegram home to inform them of the situation, and when it was all over, which was this morning, I immediately asked a friend to borrow a sum of money and returned on the steam train, thanking the gods for allowing me to set foot on Tingen’s soil again, and for letting me see you all again. ”

　　At this he looked at his fiancée with some doubt:

　　”Anna, I can feel your joy and surprise when you saw me, but what I can’t understand is why you rushed to the door with such excitement when you got out of the carriage, hehe, I had planned to give you a great surprise.”

　　Anna said as she recalled the previous encounter, still in disbelief:

　　”There’s nothing to hide, Joyce, because I was worried about you, I went to that only soothsaying club in Tingen today to have a divination, and the soothsayer, no, the soothsayer, told me that he said that your fiancé had come back to the house with the toy windmill.”

　　”What?” Mr. and Mrs. Wayne and Joyce took off at the same time.

　　Anna covered her face and shook her head:

　　”I didn’t believe what I met today either, but it did happen, and with steam on top, maybe there really are miracles in this world.”

　　”Joyce, the soothsayer asked for your name, features, address and date of birth, said he was doing an astrological reading, and after that asked me if it was my house or yours that had the toy windmill, and when I gave my confirmation he said, congratulations Ms. Anna, your fiancé has returned, and is in your home, don’t ask him what happened to him, give him hugs and comfort. ”

　　”God ……” Joyce just found the whole thing unimaginable and incomprehensible, “Did he know me? Did someone send him a telegram? Could it be that he is familiar with the police at Port Enemart? No, that still doesn’t explain it, how did he know I was coming to your house? How could he be sure that you were going for divination? Did you make an appointment in advance?”

　　”No, I was picked on the spot.” Anna replied with a bewildered look.

　　”Perhaps a good diviner needs to have a wealth of information at their disposal, even if they won’t be able to use it anytime soon, maybe there really is something magical about divination.” Anna’s father, Mr. Wayne, concluded with a sigh, “There must be a reason why divination has always been around and never disappeared in over a thousand years of known history, as well as the less clear-cut Quaternary, I suppose.”

　　Joyce tossed her head slightly and turned to ask:

　　”What was the diviner’s name?”

　　Anna thought for a moment and said:

　　”Klein Moretti.”

　　……

　　Inside the reception hall of the Divination Club.

　　Since Klein controlled the volume and Angelica had the good sense not to lean in, she only saw Anna leave as if she had lost her soul, only to see the other woman’s expression showing shock and confusion.

　　Angelica took small steps near the couch and asked curiously:

　　”A good result?”

　　She didn’t dare to ask exactly what the result was, for fear of violating the potential rules of the Diviners.

　　”Uh-huh.” Klein nodded and pulled three copper coins out of his pants pocket, “An eighth of a soule is one and two-tenths pennies?”

　　”Yes.” Angelica glanced at the copper coins and realized that one was a penny and two were halfpennies, and hastily backed away, “That’s an extra halfpenny.”

　　Klein smiled and pressed it falsely:

　　”Thank you for taking care of my guest, she tipped me and I deserve to tip you.”

　　It’s also a thank you for your recommendation …… he added silently in his mind.

　　”Okay.” Angelica was inexplicably a little afraid of Klein, and seeing that the reason was appropriate, she didn’t refuse anymore.

　　Klein returned to the conference room, thinking that more divination seekers would follow.

　　However, until five forty, he still couldn’t wait for a second customer.

　　It wasn’t that the Divination Club was not doing well, but the vast majority of people had clear goals and appointed diviners on their own.

　　”They should have been recommended to come here, having long ago determined who to look to for divination …… All in all, it’s still my reputation that’s not enough ah …… ” Klein laughed to himself in the game’s terminology.

　　He sipped clean his third addition of Sibel black tea, put on his half-high bowler hat, carried his silver-encrusted cane, and walked slowly out of the conference room.

　　Angelica, thinking of Gracias’ instructions, rushed to meet him:

　　”Mr. Moretti, when is your next visit to the club? Mr. Grassis wishes to thank you in person.”

　　”I’ll come whenever I’m free, if fate brings us together, then he’s sure to meet me.” Klein replied in a clergyman’s tone, with a sense of getting into the act.

　　Then, regardless of Angelica’s reaction, he stepped away from the Divination Club and took a public carriage back home.

　　Entering the front door, Crane saw Benson reading a newspaper and Melissa piecing things together with bits and pieces of gears, bearings, and clockwork in the evening sunlight.

　　”Good afternoon, has Mrs. Shoard been visiting?” Klein asked in a relaxed tone.

　　Benson didn’t put down his paper, just raised his head:

　　”Mrs. Shoard came and sat down for a quarter of an hour, brought some presents, was very pleased with the little muffins and lemon cake we had prepared and invited us to her house sometime, she’s a kind, polite lady and knows how to make conversation.”

　　”The only problem is that the family believes in the Storm Lord and thinks that girls shouldn’t go to school, only be homeschooled.” Melissa muttered in a small voice.

　　It was obvious that she was quite unhappy about this matter.

　　”Don’t worry about it too much, as long as she doesn’t interfere with us, it’s still a good neighbor.” Klein smiled and comforted his sister.

　　The Kingdom of Ruen was a multi-faith country, unlike the Fusak Empire in the north that only obeyed the God of War, and unlike the Kingdom of Feneport in the south that only honored the Mother Goddess of the Earth, the congregations of the three major churches, the Lord of the Storm, the Goddess of the Night, and the God of Steam and Mechanics, inevitably clashed with each other’s viewpoints and habits, but they were all relatively restrained by each other over thousands of years of bonding and didn’t appear to be unable to coexist.

　　”Hmm.” Melissa pursed her lips and returned her gaze to the pile of parts.

　　After dinner, Klein continued to review his history knowledge, waiting until Melissa and Benson had each showered and returned to their rooms before he cleaned himself up and entered his bedroom, unlocking the door.

　　He had to make a sorting and summarizing of the learning and problems that had arisen during this period of time, so that he would not forget and overlook the key, and only then could he deal with the subsequent development with clearer thoughts.

　　Klein spread out his notebook, took a fountain pen, and wrote word by word in Chinese:

　　”Why is the key to magic potion digestion ‘play’?”